Bush will hold talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Jordan next week focusing on improving Iraq's fragile security, the White House said on Tuesday.Amid rising sectarian violence in Iraq, Bush will fly to Amman following the NATO summit in Riga, Latvia for talks on November 29-30 with the Iraqi leader to focus on "building security and stability in Iraq," White House spokesman Tony Snow told reporters. "We will focus our discussions on current developments in Iraq, progress made to date in the deliberations of a high level joint committee on transferring security responsibility and the role of the region in supporting Iraq," Snow said, reading from a joint U.S.-Iraqi statement as Bush flew back to Washington from a trip to Asia. The violence in Iraq has put mounting pressure on both Bush and Maliki to try to find a way to stem killings. ... http://abcnews.go.com

A Marine has been sentenced to 21 months in custody for his role in the April 26 death of an Iraqi civilian near Hamdania. Lance Cpl. Jerry Shumate Jr., 21, pleaded guilty Tuesday to aggravated assault and conspiracy to obstruct justice in connection with the death of an unarmed Iraqi civilian. He is the fourth serviceman to plead guilty in the case.Earlier Tuesday, Shumate pleaded guilty to lesser charges in the killing of Hashim Ibrahim Awad, whose body was left with an AK-47 and a shovel to make him look like an insurgent. Shumate entered his pleas to aggravated assault and conspiracy to obstruct justice through his civilian attorney, Steve Immel, during court-martial proceedings. He was expected to testify about the April incident in a deal that called for dismissal of the original charges of murder, kidnapping, conspiracy, larceny, assault and housebreaking, Immel said. ...http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15829765/

A local business owner is hoping for at least a whiff of success from her unusual fundraising tool: special fragrances inspired by this Cleveland suburb. Valerie Allen, owner of A Desirable Fragrance Bar, has developed "The Spirit of Bedford," a women's perfume and a men's version that she said are based on the likes and personalities of the city's top couple. "It's sort of a musky, forest-type, masculine scent," said Mayor Daniel Pocek to describe his signature fragrance. His wife, Christy, inspired an oriental floral scent for women, creator Allen said. Allen graduated from Bedford High School and said she came up with the scents to raise dollars for a scholarship fund for the school's students. Five dollars is being donated for each one-ounce bottle sold for $25....http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2671901

Home prices fell in at least 45 metropolitan areas in the third quarter as the real estate slowdown spread beyond industrial cities, where job losses have taking their toll on housing, to inflated markets in Florida, California and Arizona.While the Detroit was the worst hit, with home prices falling almost 11% between July 1 and Sept. 30, the Sarasota, Fla., area was second with a 9% drop in the median single-family home price, according to data released Monday by the National Association of Realtors. Five Florida metro areas were among the 10 regions with the biggest price declines in the third quarter, compared with the period last year. And in California, median prices fell in San Diego and Sacramento. The number of metro areas experiencing price depreciation jumped from 26 in the April-June period, and the number is expected to continue to rise for the next few quarters as sellers in more cities are forced to cut prices to woo buyers back into the market....http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/housing/2006-11-20-home-sales-summer_x.htm?csp=34

Residents of the Mexican border town of Guadalupe, across the Rio Grande from Fabens, are dealing with armed checkpoints and car-by-car searches. The small farming community is under tight surveillance by officials in Mexico, and now in the United States. The scene in Guadalupe Bravo could most accurately be described as a town under lockdown. The Mexican military increased its presence in the town, and Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West tells ABC-7 he's ready to send man power into the area on the US side of the border. Sheriff West added that his office recently heard of plans to kidnap US citizens, and transport them across the border to be killed in Guadalupe. According to Sheriff West, Victor Canello a man with ties to Fort Hancock was taken to Guadalupe and shot. ...http://www.kvia.com/Global/story.asp?S=5709913

Ask yourself: How in the world could Bush, from a political standpoint, order the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq? For the past 3 years, he & Cheney have been suggesting that people who call for exiting Iraq are nothing more than weak-kneed cowards who would “cut & run” from the battlefield & subject the US to terrorism. Thus, by ordering a withdrawal from Iraq, would they not be implicitly admitting that they themselves had joined the ranks of the cut-&-run cowards who would put the nation at risk from the terrorists? Indeed, how would they explain a withdrawal to all the Iraqis who collaborated with the occupier & who would then be at the mercy of Iraqis who didn’t? Worst of all, how would Bush explain the withdrawal to every American family that has lost a loved one in Iraq? No matter how hard each such family has tried to suppress it, a critically important question would inevitably surface within their consciousness: “What exactly did my son, daughter, spouse, or parent die for...http://www.lewrockwell.com/hornberger/hornberger109.html